Birthday Traditions: Jack's Day
by Kate McCaye
Summary: This one takes place within the "Birthday Traditions" universe, but can easily be read as a stand-alone.


A/N: This is just a quick little thing that popped into my head while writing "Birthday Traditions 2." It set up camp there and refused to budge, so I figured I'd better get it out of my head and into the computer. It takes place within the "Birthday Traditions" universe, but it can be read as a stand alone. For those who have read those stories, I imagine it taking place between Years 4 and 5, which is why I've waited until now to post it.

Jack's Day

Jack O'Neill woke up feeling like he was forgetting something. Not something important, just... something. Maybe his dry cleaning. It was a Wednesday, but it was also day four of five mandatory down-time, off-base days for all of SG1. General Hammond had ordered them all home, feeling that they had been working especially hard as of late and all needed a break.

Jack glanced at his watch as he headed to his kitchen for some breakfast. 10:30. Sweet. He glanced down at his plaid pajama pants and holey faded black tee-shirt and wondered if he could get away with staying in his pajamas all day. It was definitely worth a shot, he concluded as he stretched in front of his open refrigerator door. "Mmm, pizza," he said reverently, pulling out last night's leftover box. Cold pizza for breakfast, he decided as he took the box into the living room, enjoying the feel of the cold tile on his bare feet.

And the perfect companion to cold pizza for breakfast - some quality Homer time. He rummaged through his DVD collection, found the one he wanted, popped it in, and stretched out on his couch, carefully balancing the open box on his chest as he pulled the remote out from where it was lodged between the cushions and his bum. "Dun, dun dun duh duh dun duhduhdududun..." he chanted as the theme song to his favorite show began.

-

Sam Carter sat in her car outside her CO's house, glancing nervously at his front door every few seconds. This was sort of risky... it had the potential to get dangerously close to that personal area of both their lives that they were very, very good about not talking about, and tried to avoid thinking about in general.

Her passenger looked at her inquisitively, big brown eyes that did _not, _did _not _remind her of anyone else she knew _at all. _She stroked her blond companion and picked her up with a sigh. "All right, let's get this over with," she said firmly, killing the engine and getting out, still carrying the adorable creature as she walked up to Jack O'Neill's front door. "Be on your best behavior," she said quietly to the bundle in her arms. She raised her hand to knock, hesitated, took a deep breath, and knocked.

-

Jack sat up in surprise as someone knocked on his door, the motion sending the pizza box sliding off his chest and down onto the floor. He knew that knock. He just usually didn't hear it on the front door to his house. Usually it was his office door, or his quarters on base. His first thought was that there must have been a base emergency, but that didn't make sense, he realized as he paused his DVD. She would have called first if it was a base emergency. And in all likelihood in the event of a base emergency, Sam Carter would have much more important things to do than come fetch him. So... he realized he'd have to go to the door to find out why she was there.

When the door was finally opened, Sam looked at her CO in surprise. His hair was crazier than usual and looked as if it hadn't been combed in several days. Or perhaps he'd lost a fight with his toaster and mildly electrocuted himself. His tee-shirt had certainly seen better days and his pants were wrinkled and, well, they were pajama pants. No shoes or socks either. "Did I wake you up?" she asked suspiciously. It was after eleven, surely he wasn't still in bed.

"No," he said defensively, staring at her chest. She looked down. Oh yeah, he wasn't staring at her chest, just the little blond creature she was holding.

"Carter, that's a puppy," he stated.

Of all the possible scenarios he considered as he headed from his couch to his door, he was not expecting his 2IC to be stood on his doorstep holding one of the cutest little Golden Retriever puppies of all time.

"Yes, sir, it's a puppy," she said, shifting said puppy in her arms, as she was making a valiant effort to eat Carter's earring. "Can I... come in?"

"Yeah. Why do you have a puppy?" he asked as he closed the door behind her.

"Sir..." She looked at him suspiciously. "You do know what day it is, right?"

"Wednesday?" he said, fairly certain he was right.

"Yes, but do you know the... date?"

He groaned as soon as she said it. He had a good excuse for forgetting this time. Before their downtime they had spent two weeks on a planet that had 15 hour days instead of 24. It hadn't taken long for him to get confused.

She saw in his face the second he realized what day it was and gave him a big smile. "Happy Birthday, sir."

"D'oh!"

-

How a man could forget his own birthday was beyond her. She knew he didn't like to make a big deal out of them, or make _any _deal out of them as a matter of fact, which was ironic considering how enthusiastically he celebrated Carter's and Daniel's birthday. She bit her lip nervously and said, "I know you don't like to celebrate, but my neighbor had these puppies and it just seemed like the perfect coincidence..."

"You're giving _me _that puppy?"

She laughed and said, "Well, I didn't bring her over here just to show her to you!"

"Carter, that's really sweet, and you know I love dogs, but..." he scratched the back of his head. "I don't have time for a puppy, it wouldn't be fair to... her?"

"Her," Sam confirmed. "Well, okay, Morgan will take her back if you don't want her but hear me out first, okay."

"Okay. Come sit down."

They headed for his couch. He hastily picked up the spilled pizza and glanced at her sheepishly as he shut the box quickly and headed into the kitchen with it. "Uh, do you want something to drink? I've got coffee... or I can make some."

"No thanks," she called, petting the puppy she was holding absently as she sat down on the couch.

He came back in and sat down at the other end, turned to her, and asked, "Who's Morgan?"

"The boy across the street, the one who mows my yard for me."

"Oh yeah. The one with the giant crush on you," he said with a grin.

She blushed. "He does not have a crush on me, he just thinks it's cool that I can fly planes."

"Carter. Please. That kid would pay _you _to mow your yard," Jack said, remembering the couple of occasions he had run into the little kid. He was cute all right, about ten or so. Messy brown hair, green eyes and glasses, usually covered with a healthy amount of dirt. Always wearing short pants. And he had an even bigger crush on Jack's 2IC than that Lieutenant Simmons everyone was always talking about.

"Well anyway, his dog had a bunch of puppies and he wanted me to come look at them and asked if I wanted one. He's checked in on Quarks for me a few times when Cassie couldn't do it. And I got to thinking about how much you like dogs and remembered your birthday was coming up..."

"How do you even _know _it's my birthday, Carter? That's a closely guarded secret."

"Not really, sir, it's on practically every piece of personnel information on file at the SGC," she pointed out.

"Oh, yeah. Well, you're supposed to pretend that it's not. You're breaking the rules here."

"Sorry, sir, I thought it would be okay just this once. I've already talked to Cassie and she's agreed to take care of her for you when you're gone. And if she can't, you could bring her to my house and I know Morgan would be more than happy to take care of her."

"What about your cat? Traditionally they don't mix too well with dogs."

"Oh, you should have seen them. Morgan brought the puppy over yesterday, and they immediately hit it off. They played together all day and they even slept together last night, all curled up in one little ball, it was so cute. I took a picture," she said enthusiastically.

Jack had to laugh. When he had first met Sam Carter, he wouldn't have thought she was possible of displaying such childlike enthusiasm over something like puppies and kittens. Then again, the woman did talk to her plants, so he figured it stood to reason she would like living breathing animals even more.

"Doesn't your cat sleep in your bed with you?"

"Yes, sir, why?"

"You had your cat and a puppy on your bed last night?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well now she's going to expect to sleep in my bed," he wailed.

He was being grumpy on purpose, sure. He was running out of reasons why he shouldn't take the puppy. He loved all dogs, but he had always thought that golden retrievers and labs had been given an unfair advantage in the cuteness department. For that matter, so had Sam Carter, and it suddenly occurred to him he was insane if he had truly thought he was going to say no when he had opened the door and seen her standing there with the puppy in her arms.

Apparently, she had picked up on the fact that his defenses were failing. She shifted closer to him on the couch with a grin and said, "Just hold her, sir, she's really soft."

"Oh, don't make me hold her," he grumbled as his hands reached out to accept the puppy she was pressing onto him. She sat back and smiled while the puppy sniffed him experimentally. It didn't take long for her to decide he was okay and start licking his face.

"Yeah, yeah, you're cute," he admitted grudgingly.

He was trying to keep up the grumpy Colonel act, but Sam knew him well enough to know it was just for show. He was already attached to the puppy, and the reverse was just as obviously true.

"Look at these feet! Carter, she's going to be huge!" he accused, as though that was somehow her fault.

She smiled mildly and said, "Well, I never thought of you as the teacup poodle type, sir but we could always exchange her for a smaller one."

"Very funny, Carter," he said sarcastically. "All right, come on, let's show her the backyard."

She followed him out onto his back porch and he set the puppy down. She explored the porch thoroughly, sniffing everything, then cautiously made her way onto the grass.

"She really liked your cat?" he asked as they followed her onto the grass.

"Yeah, they were inseparable. Then again she's been living with her brothers and sisters and mother until now, so I guess she just liked the animal friendship. And Quarks has never seen a dog, so I guess he didn't know to be afraid. Speaking of Quarks... what do you think you'll name her?"

"Hmm... well, I named your cat, so I guess it's only fair you name my dog."

"Really?" she asked with a grin.

"Nothing geeky, Carter, I've got a reputation to uphold here," he stipulated.

"Yes, sir. Let's see... well... I suppose something like 'yo-yo' or 'Guinness' is a bit out of the question. How about Mary Steenburgen?" she asked innocently.

"I may take back the offer," he grumbled. Then he grinned and said, "Maybe I'll name her Sam and give Hammond a heart attack."

She knew she would regret it, but she had to ask, "Why would that give Hammond a heart attack?"

"Oh, the possibilities are endless. Casually dropping lines around him like, 'Man, I had to kick Sam out of bed four times last night, she was all over me.'"

Blushing like mad, she punched him on the arm, hard.

"Hey, it's my birthday!" he objected, rubbing his arm defensively. "All right, fine, I won't call her Sam."

Sam smiled and kept thinking. He'd suggested all the 'scientific' names he could think of for her cat, and she had thought 'Quarks' was just too cute to refuse. Suddenly she grinned and said, "I've got it!"

"What?" he asked, looking a bit apprehensive.

"Magnet!" she said with a huge smile. "Your favorite scientific explanation."

He smiled slowly. "Magnet, huh." He watched the puppy, who was running clumsily over to them. "I can live with that."

"You can call her Maggie," Sam said as it occurred to her.

"Like the Simpsons."

"What?" she asked absently.

"The Simpsons, Carter. The baby. Her name is Maggie."

"Oh, right," she said, trying to cover for the fact that she hadn't known that. "So... it's a good name then."

"Very good name," he agreed, crouching down to pet the puppy, who was trying to get his attention. "Carter," he said suddenly, looking up at her.

"Yes, sir?"

"You _have _actually _seen _'The Simpsons,' haven't you?"

"Er..."

"Carter! I am shocked and appalled!"

"I know the basic premise of it, I just don't watch a lot of TV," she said defensively.

"But it's been on _forever,_" he said, standing up with the puppy in his arms. "Come on. We're going back inside and you are watching an episode right now."

"Yes, sir," she said with a heavy sigh, following him back through the sliding doors. "But only because it's your birthday. How old are you again?" He ignored her intentionally and set Magnet down and started rummaging through his collection for the episode he wanted.

"Sit down. This is a good one. Really old."

She sat back down on the couch and picked up the puppy, who immediately started pacing the length of the couch happily.

"You have seen the other important shows, right? 'I Love Lucy,' 'Seinfeld?'" he asked as he sat down on the other side of Magnet and started petting her.

"Of course I've seen Lucy. And Seinfeld..." she thought for a few seconds and said, "Yes. I've seen that one too."

He sighed dramatically and said, "I should have been including you in the whole 'exposure to Earth culture' I've been working on with Teal'c all these years."

-

Sam truly tried to get into the episode, but she just didn't... get it. What was so great about it? She didn't understand. She glanced sideways at her CO, who was petting the now sleeping Magnet carefully, looking down at her fondly rather than at the television. She smiled and turned her attention back to the television.

On screen, Homer exclaimed, "In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics, young lady!"

Carter laughed loudly. She couldn't help it. That was actually quite funny. A little girl building a perpetual motion machine... funny.

"HA!" Jack exclaimed triumphantly. "That's more like it. Now you can join me and Teal'c on our marathons. First Friday of every month..."

"Sir?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't push it."

"Okay," he agreed, returning his attention to the television.

She looked over at him, knowing he was going to be looking way too smug over there, but still needing to confirm it. Yup. Way too pleased with himself. She slid across the couch and hugged him in a very nearly platonic way and kissed him on the cheek.

"I can't believe you forgot your own birthday," she said, trying to sound like she was teasing him, but the underlying affection in her voice was probably even apparent to Magnet, who aside from being an 8-week old puppy, was currently asleep. She hurried back over to the other end of the couch before the light mood of the day could be destroyed and turned her attention back to the television.

"Hey, Carter?" Jack asked as the episode ended.

"Sir?"

"Thanks. For the puppy. I really like her," he said with a genuinely affectionate smile.

"You're welcome, sir. Happy birthday."

-

A/N: Back to the regularly scheduled programming - Birthday Traditions 5 is next. Story ID: 2284397


End file.
